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Negotiating Chineseness: Incorporating critical reflection into workplace research on Chinese investment in Ethiopia
Author(s) -
Fei Ding
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
area
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1475-4762
pISSN - 0004-0894
DOI - 10.1111/area.12607
Subject(s) - expatriate , sociology , negotiation , subjectivity , nexus (standard) , agency (philosophy) , power (physics) , context (archaeology) , identity (music) , autonomy , public relations , gender studies , political science , epistemology , social science , aesthetics , engineering , paleontology , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , law , biology , embedded system
Critical geographic reflection on researcher subjectivity is inadequately practised by scholars studying workplaces, especially those involving emerging powers from the global south. In the context of growing Chinese investment in Africa, this paper reflects on the negotiation of my Chineseness during multi‐sited research on capital–labour and expatriate–local relations in three Chinese companies in Ethiopia. It examines the nexus of identity, power, and place to shape my fieldwork process at three stages: seeking access to the enclosed space of companies, building credibility in front of different groups of participants, and arranging interviews in the particular socio‐spatial contexts of the workplace. Specifically, I explain the enabling and problematic nature of my Chinese identity when intersectioned with my multiple subjective positions as a US‐based female student‐researcher. I elaborate how my engagements with expatriates and locals are influenced by the existing system of power relations in Chinese companies. I demonstrate that the place of interview can generate crucial insights into management practices and work relations, and facilitate researcher autonomy and employee agency to momentarily revert the power relations in the workplace. My field experiences highlight the importance of critical reflection to assist researchers to navigate the layered complexity and unexpectancy of doing fieldwork.